Insurance should just insure

A few days ago, Sanjiv Bajaj, the Joint CMD of Bajaj Capital, posted on LinkedIn defending traditional insurance products. His central argument was simple: term insurance isn't right for the masses. Most Indians, he argued, need bundled solutions that combine protection with savings because they cannot afford to separate the two. According to him, criticising products like ULIPs and endowment policies misses the reality of how India actually saves. I disagreed with this view in the comments, and so did several others. But the exchange raises questions that go beyond a LinkedIn debate. At stake is whether we accept that millions of Indian families must receive inadequate life cover because the insurance industry finds pure protection unprofitable to sell. Suggested read: ULIPs are useless as insurance products I’ll examine Bajaj's argument more carefully. He suggests that for most Indians, bundled insurance products make sense because they address both protection and savings needs simultaneously. This sounds pragmatic until you look at what these products actually deliver. The typical endowment policy or ULIP provides